


Forgive Me, Pretty Baby

by PumpkinDoodles



Series: 'As is' Means With All Faults [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Stephen Strange aka Bingo Little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 06:16:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14928767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinDoodles/pseuds/PumpkinDoodles
Summary: In this ficlet, set after the end of "Recording Our History on the Bedroom Wall," Thor had a vision of a different ending for Darcy Lewis. The Darcy that he envisioned is still listening to Norah Jones' "Long Way Home," she's just paying attention to a different verse. The vision was a little wistful for him. He was quietly Team Cap all this time. Wanda just wants Darcy to be happy.





	Forgive Me, Pretty Baby

Somewhere in an alternative universe that can be reached by some of Jane Foster’s portals, Darcy’s story ended another way: She never remarried Brock Rumlow and she and Steve were reunited.

We don’t know all the details; Thor saw it in a vision once and waited patiently, but it never came to pass.

Much later—after the vision was impossible—he discussed it with Wanda Maximoff when they visited her in Key West. They came to the opinion that perhaps a necessary phone call had never been made to set events in motion. The god and the girl agreed never to mention it to the people involved. It might hurt too much.

Instead, they played with little Pearl Rumlow in the sand. Wanda made sure Darcy’s baby had a hat and sunscreen. 

 

 ***

 

_Several weeks after that media-dubbed “Avengers Civil War,” Tony asked Darcy for a favor. Could she meet Nat somewhere? For Tony, Darcy would go anywhere. She found herself on a plane to Wakanda with a female pilot who didn’t say much. The pilot had a shaved head and reminded Darcy of a total badass, like Sigourney Weaver in Alien. When she asked about Nat, the pilot looked her up and down:_

 

_“You do not look like much of a warrior, colonizer.”_

_“I tased Thor,” Darcy said._

_“He is very much taller than you,” she said._

_“I’m his Lightning Sister now,” Darcy said. The woman looked fractionally impressed._

_There was a letter from Tony on the plane._

 

_**Dear Itty Bitty,** _

**_I apologize for what is technically a kidnapping under false pretenses. But I couldn’t let you remarry Rambo without seeing Steve first. He called me the other day. I think the two of you might have things to discuss. If I can forgive him for leaving me for dead and hurting Rhodey, I figure you can forgive him for ghosting on you?_ **

**_Whatever you decide, the jet will bring you back when you’re ready. He’ll be waiting for you when you land._ **

**_Love,_ **

**_Your Big Bro_ **

_When the quinjet landed, Steve was waiting. He’d grown a beard._

_“Darce,” he said softly, reaching out a hand, “do you think we could talk?” He was holding his breath; it reminded Darcy of a line she'd read once about angels dancing on the head of a pin. Steve Rogers looked like his whole life hinged on his ability to dance on one tiny pin. Seeing his expression, she said yes._

_They talked for a long time. He started at the beginning, in Brooklyn. Around 1991, he broke down and wept. At the end--somewhere in Russia--he couldn't even look at her. Darcy remembered Tony's letter. "Tony's forgiven you," she said softly._

_"I don't deserve it. It seems like some sort of strange, improbable miracle," Steve said in a choked voice. "Just like you being here."_

_"Angels on the head of a pin," Darcy whispered. She refrained from telling him that she'd been lured there under false pretenses. That was a story for another day._

_"Doesn't that usually mean something about philosophical debates whose answers have no practical value?" Steve asked, a faint Catholic school memory bubbling up._

_"For you and Tony's relationship, yes. He's willing to let it all go," Darcy told him._

_"What about you?" Steve asked, not daring to meet her eyes._

_Darcy went and gazed at the armless Bucky in cryo. She hadn’t known about the arm._

_“Is he a good man?” she asked the King of Wakanda._

_“Yes, I believe that he is,” T’Challa said. “Captain Rogers is as well. Do you think you can forgive him?”_

_“Give me time,” Darcy said._

_She wrote goodbye letters: one to Jane, one to Tony, and one to Brock. She was staying in Wakanda for a little while. No one should wait for her. She sent the jet back empty._

_That Darcy is in Wakanda still. Frequently, a man calling himself Bingo Little opens a portal so that Jane and Tony can visit she and Steve. Everett Ross thinks he knows Bingo Little from somewhere, but he can never quite place him._

_***_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for all the support!


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